This site began in 2008, after the death of our 12-year-old son, Keeghan, the beautiful boy shown in the picture above. Keeghan was diagnosed in 2006, at the age of ten, with a malignant brain tumor. He fought for over two years before he left us on August 31, 2008.

As I think most parents of a child who has died probably feel, we wanted him to be remembered. The worst part of losing a child so young is the thought that he will be forgotten, as if he never really existed. So we opened a bank account and started this site, in the hope that Keeghan's Cell by Cell Fund would someday be as big as . . . I don't know what.  We just knew we wanted it to be big.

The phrase "cell by cell" was from something Keeghan said when we first found out that his tumor was malignant.  He told us that he would beat this, even if he had to do it cell by cell.  He was smart that way.

But here's the thing about starting foundations in your child's name. There's just too many of them. I didn't get very involved with the childhood cancer community while Keeghan was in treatment, but after he died I let myself get sucked into it.  For a few years there, I was up to my eyeballs in "spreading the word," i.e., spamming the hell out of my friends' Facebook news feeds with nothing but cancer stuff.  Why they should donate, where they should donate, etc.  I'm sure I was very annoying; I know this because I still have friends on my own Facebook news feed who do the same now and yes, it can be annoying.  The thing I notice most with these people is that a very large number of them have a foundation of some kind in their child's name.  

Little Billy's foundation raises money to buy toys for children in hospitals.  Sherry's foundation donates to Children's Hospital of [insert hospital name here].  Others give to specific bigger charities like Make-A-Wish, or St. Jude's.  All are noble causes, but I can't help but think that the more small foundations like this there are, the more thinly spread out the donated money is.  It's like trying to put out a fire with a garden mister instead of a fire hose.  

I still believe in raising money for research because a cure needs to be found. But my life is so much more than cancer. I have a beautiful son who I want remembered for the smart, handsome, snarky, amazing boy that he was in life, and still is in death. I don't want him remembered only for having had cancer. I have a beautiful daughter who is headed for great things in life, and I have a husband who is . . . everything to me. He is my heart. Life needs to be about the whole picture. Keeghan will always be a major part of my "whole." He is part of me. I will always fight for him in my own ways, but not by using his name. Instead I will use his fire, and his smarts, to do it the right way.

To read more about Keeghan, please visit our family website.

Shannon

The woman lucky enough to have been called "Mama"  by this amazing boy.